Lost and Found
by The Amazing McCormick
Summary: They didn't know what they had until it was gone. Rated T for character death. Some Supermartian. My first ever post. Complete.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

A/N: This is my very first story. Please, be nice.

It was such a simple mission. How had it gone so wrong?

_Earlier that day_

Artemis was the last one to arrive. M'gann was in the kitchen. Superboy was watching TV. Kaldur was reading a book. Wally and Robin were laughing at something on the laptop in fornt of them. It was another day at Mount Justice. Artemis settled in, and the day began.

M'gann looked up at the sudden shouting from the commons room. Wally and Artemsi were at it again. Robin had moved to another spot on the sofa to give them more room. Kaldur gave up on trying to read and joined Superboy in watching TV. Robin turned up the volume on his YouTube video. Artemis and Wally yelled a little louder. Superboy turned up the TV volume. The noise was gradually reaching a crescendo, so loud that M'gann couldn't hear herself think. There was just so much noise-

"OW!" M'gann hadn't realized that the knife she was using was getting closer to her hand until it cut her. She turned to the sink and grabbed a towel.

"Are you alright?" M'gann heard a familiar, gruff voice behind her. She turned around and found herself staring at her teammate's… chest…

"Oh-oh yeah! Uh," she stammered. Of course, of course Superboy would have heard her, with his super-hearing. "Yeah, the knife just… ah… slipped…" M'gann turned back to the sink. Some blood was starting to seep through the towel, dark green against white.

"It's… Green?" Superboy was looking at her hand, too.

"Oh, yes, part of being a Martian. Our blood is different. It's also the only thing about us we can't change. No matter what we shift into, it's always green…" M'gann trailed off, realizing she was babbling.

"Sorry," she rushed to apologize, "sorry, I just-"

She was cut off as a message came in from Batman.

They had a mission.

A/N: Yes, I know, it's short. Not really worth the T rating. But stay tuned for the next chapter, with better action.

Reviews and Constructive Criticism, Please

If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.


	2. Chapter 2: The Mission

A/N: Part 2, and, as promised, more action in this chapter. I apologize for the spelling errors in my previous chapter. There will be fewer this time. I know I only posted a few hours ago. I'm on my mom's laptop, mine is broken, and she said she was coming home early. Then she called again to say she would be home late. Chapter one and two were supposed to be one. Sorry. Anyway, so as for the story. Here goes:

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><p>"Kid Flash, Artemis, and I will take the north end of the castle. Robin and Superboy, the south. Miss Martian, make one more sweep, then close in on the west wing. The east is cut off by the cliff and the highway, no need to worry about that. We'll meet up back in the clearing. Everyone, get in, do your job, and get out. We're on a time limit. Radio if there is any trouble." Aqualad finished briefing the team, and they split up.<p>

Artemis stumbled- again- on a root as she, Kid Flash, and Aqualad made their way through the woods to the castle. Kid Flash snickered, and Artemis hit him to shut him up.

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><p>Robin stared in disbelief as the guard locked eyes with him. Then, in almost slow motion, the guard reached for the radio on his belt. There was nothing Robin could do that could stop him from radioing in, nothing would reach him in time. Suddenly, the guard fell. Superboy stood behind him, arm raised.<p>

"I owe you one, Supey."

"Hn."

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><p>Miss Martian landed just inside the forest. The castle was still a long ways off. She glanced around before starting off again, flying low to the ground in camouflage mode. She could see the castle now. She was closing in… 250 feet… 150 feet… 50 feet… just before she reached the door of the west wing, something slammed into her, hurling her against the wall. Her comm. link fell out of her ear. Before she could stand up, another blow threw her through the castle wall. Miss Martian crashed to the floor inside. She felt a burning pain in her shoulder. She slowly, painfully raised her hand and felt warm blood across her chest. She heard footsteps approaching, and the barely audible crunch of the comm. being crushed under someone's foot. Desperately, she tried to reach out telepathically to her team, only to have her thoughts pushed back at her.<p>

"No, no, that stuff doesn't work in here." A feminine voice said.

Miss Martian looked up to see a woman standing there, hands on her hips. There was dark green fluid on the fingers of her right hand.

"Now, little Miss Martian, why don't you tell me what you're doing here?"

Miss Martian was silent.

"Fine, have it your way." The woman shrugged, like she didn't care. She stretched out her right arm… and stretched… and stretched… until her arm was a long, razor-sharp whip. Miss Martian could only watch in horror as the whip arm came down.

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><p>Artemis and Aqualad burst into the clearing. Kid Flash had run ahead, and had already arrived. So had Superboy and Robin. The mission was completed without any complications, except-<p>

"Where's M'gann?"

Robin and Superboy looked up.

"You haven't heard from her, either?"

"Nope" The team looked around nervously.

"Has anyone tried to radio her?" Aqualad asked.

"Not going through." Robin replied.

"M'gann's strong, she can take care of herself. But it's not like her to not check in." Artemis added.

"Hey Rob, can't you track her comm.?" Kid Flash said.

"Yeah, gimme a sec…" The Boy wonder checked his computer. "It says 'Device Not Found'. That means it's broken."

The team exchanged glances. "Let's split up. Search around the forest. She could be anywhere. Radio if you find anything." Aqualad spoke to the team. They split up to look for her.

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><p>"Anything?"<p>

"Not at all"

"Has anyone tried to reach out to her telepathically?"

"Can we do that?"

"I've tried. Nothing."

"What now?"

"We haven't tried the castle. She had the west wing, right?"

"Yes. Good idea. Rendezvous at the clearing. We will go together."

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><p>The team approached the west wing. Kid Flash noticed something on the ground.<p>

"There's the comm."

"Dude," Robin said, "That's what you notice?"

Kid Flash looked up to see a big hole in the wall of the castle.

"Whoa"

But the real sight was inside. The team climbed through the hole and into the room on the inside. They balked at what they saw. All around the room there were splatters of some green liquid. And in the middle of the room, there was a woman lying on the floor. The team stared as the woman slowly rose into a sitting position. She saw the team, and slowly, her lips curled into a smile. The smugness in her smile was countered by a wild, deranged look in her eyes. She spoke.

"Oh, are you her friends?"

The team was silent.

"Not much for talking, are you? Neither was she," the woman laughed, then babbled on; " Not at first, anyways. Of course, after the third or fourth time I hit her, she wasn't… Hm?" The woman's eyes fell on Artemis. The archer had her bow raised, arrow aimed at the woman.

"Stop beating around the bush! What happened to Miss Martian?"

"You mean you haven't figured that out yet?" The woman asked. "What do you think is all over the walls?" she began to babble again; "Not red, though. I've seen red, even blue, but not green…"

"Blood." Superboy gasped.

"What?" Aqualad stared at the clone, not believing what he was hearing.

"Martian blood is green. It's M'gann's… Blood."

"Give the boy a prize! Now don't you get it? Your little alien friend is dead." The creepy smile returned to the woman's face.

"Th-then where's the… the… body!" Kid Flash couldn't bear to say it.

"Hm… probably around here somewhere. She did put up a fight. Let's see… I was tired. The fight took more out of me than I thought. I finally got a good grip on her, and then I threw her. She may have walked off somewhere, with her last remaining energy. But really," the woman gestured to the walls around her; "Could anyone survive after losing this much blood?"

Artemis aimed her arrow again. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

For once, the woman was silent.

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><p>It rained. As the ice-cold drops rained down on them like needles, they searched. Aqualad contacted the League. Robin watched the captive. The other three spread out and searched the forest. But, by the time the League showed up, it was clear. Maybe, if the situations were different, they could have found her. Maybe if they looked a little longer. But it was no use. Whatever trace of the Martian there may have been, it was gone, washed away in the rain.<p>

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><p>AN: Wow! That's a lot longer than the other one! I hope you liked this one. Yes, I gave M'gann more screentime. She's my favorite character. Sorry. Next chapter will feature M'gann's journey out of the castle, and then the Justice League and Young Justice League dealing with her death.

Reviews and Constructive Criticism.

If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.


	3. Chapter 3: The Battle

A/N: Yes, I'm posting again. I'm hoping to have this finished by Tuesday, because after that, I won't have any time. Thankfully, Monday is a skip day, so I can write more then.

And thank you for the ONE review I got. Oh well.

Now for the story.

This is mainly M'gann's battle against the woman (who is she? Even I don't know. Maybe she's Gemini.).

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><p>The pain was blinding. M'gann cried out. There was a small splish as the blood hit the wall. The whip came down again. M'gann was thrown to the wall. Her head snapped back. A crack echoed through the small room. She slid to the floor. Another hit threw her to the other wall. Back and forth, again and again. The woman was speaking, but M'gann wasn't listening. She couldn't. Everything was blurred. Her body was working on auto-pilot. It was all about survival now. The woman brought her arm down again. This time, though, M'gann was ready. She reached forward with her telekenisis, throwing the woman across the room. Before the woman could react, M'gann flew across the room and started punching her. The two kept up with the hand-to-hand, M'gann landing some good hits, before the woman managed to get her whip arm around her and threw her again. M'gann struggled to stay up, dodging the woman's swings, and darting in to attack. They kept up their dance, but the woman was getting tired. M'gann's few good hits had landed in the right spots, it was hard for the woman to reach the prime she had at the beginning of the fight. With each swing, each hit, each dodge, she was losing energy, fast. This needed to end, soon. The woman let out a deranged shriek, throwing herself full-on into the fight. She hit M'gann, again and again, each cut going deeper than the last. The Martian was going down.<p>

The woman's head was too crowded, too foggy with rage and bloodlust, she didn't notice the stance, the way M'gann's muscles tensed, until the Martian's kick slammed into her chest. With her last energy, M'gann had dodged the lashes and cut in for one more attack. She tried to twist around and kick again, but the woman had her whip arm around her again. With all of her remaining strength, the woman drew back, slamming M'gann against the wall, and then hurled her through the hole she had first entered through. And then the woman blacked out.

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><p>M'gann hit the ground. Hard. She lay there, the world swimming around her. After some time, seconds, minutes, hours, who knows, thoughts started to come to the surface. One thought in particular: her team. She struggled to her feet and tried to take off, but she crashed to the ground again. She rose to her feet, painfully, and started walking towards the forest.<p>

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><p>Progress was slow. Or was it fast? She couldn't tell anymore, she would walk for awhile, and then black out, only to wake up in some other part of the forest. Again, M'gann stood up, but it was a struggle, more so than the last time. She tried to reach out telepathically, but, like before, she couldn't reach them. If they were closer, maybe she could, but they were too far away. She heard voices. She didn't recognize them. Just to be safe, she shifted into something more… human.<p>

"_But what's the use?"_

She had given up on trying to find her team a while ago. She gave up on it all. It was useless. She had lost too much blood, though you couldn't tell, the rain had washed it all away. Wait, rain? When had it started raining? She didn't know, couldn't tell. There wasn't enough blood left in her for her to think straight. Maybe, under different circumstances, it wouldn't matter. With her Martian physiology, it would be, not easy, but possible, for her body to renew itself, to get more blood. But not here, without food, the right conditions, without rest… sleep. Yes, that's what she needed. Sleep. But if she fell asleep, she might not ever wake up. So she walked on.

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><p>She didn't see it. The forest concealed it. The night gave limited visibility. She didn't see it. Not until it was too late.<p>

She stepped off the cliff.

This time, when she hit the ground, she did not get up.

Her surroundings felt different. A breeze that wasn't in the forest brushed over her. She didn't feel it, though. She didn't feel anything. She just lay there, as a light washed over her. And then black.

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><p>AN: Okay, I know I said I would talk about the Young Justice and Justice League's reactions, but I didn't have time for that in this one. Soryy.

That will come next tiem.

Review and Constructive Criticism, please

If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.


	4. Chapter 4: The Aftermath

A/N: Oh shoot. I am sitting here, at my computer, freaking out. I have no idea what to do. This chapter, as promised, is the Justice League and Young Justice's reactions to M'gann's death. However, I have no idea how to handle this. No idea at all. This could very well fail miserably. I am so sorry. Please forgive me.

On another note, I received TWO more reviews! And, my story has been added to someone's Favorite list! *does little happy dance*

Disclaimer: I do not own this. Characters belong to DC comics. Plot belongs to that little part of my brain that pops ideas into my head at three in the morning when I'm cramming for exams.

Okay, here's the story.

BY THE WAY this chapter has a very small amount of WallArt. Or KFxArty, or whatever you want to call it. I like WallArt.

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><p>They sat in silence. The Justice League had arrived, and quickly taken over the operation of searching, as well as the captive. Even the League was not able to get her to talk.<p>

After the League arrived, Batman sent the Young Justice back to Mount Justice. He met up with them there once the League ended their investigation. Miss Martian's body was not found.

Batman studied the remaining five members of the team. He had to admit, they were a mess. Even Robin, who was usually so professional, was torn. They had cried, that much was obvious. All except for Superboy, but Batman could tell he was in pain. Just standing there in the room, he could feel it. The clone was much more secluded, much angrier than normal. The pain he felt practically flowed off of him, filling the whole room with a feeling of… loss.

The team was exhausted. They sat there, watching the Dark Knight, waiting for him to unleash his wrath on them. Artemis had fallen asleep, her head resting on Kid Flash's shoulder. He made no move to push her away. The six people in the room were still, waiting for someone to do or say something.

Finally, Batman spoke.

"It hurts. I know it hurts, to lose someone close to you." Batman was silent, like he was weighing his options, trying to decide what would be the right thing to say. He knew what he should say, that these things happen, stuff like this comes with the job, but, even though they didn't want to admit it, they were kids. They were young. They were not trained to deal with this. And he knew how much she had meant to them, to all of them. He sighed.

"Head home. You all need your rest. We will discuss this tomorrow." The news about not finding her body could wait.

With that, the Dark Knight turned around, and left.

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><p>It had been awhile since Kaldur had been back to Atlantis. But right then, the city didn't hold the same magnificence that had always drawn his dreams back to this place. His thoughts were too clouded by grief, a cloud that seemed to physically settle over the bright lights of the underwater city, dimming their glow.<p>

He heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Kaldur!"

He turned to see Tula coming over to him, followed by Garth. Kaldur's two close Atlantean friends hugged him.

"What are you doing here? You didn't tell us you were coming for a visit." Garth smiled at his friend, then frowned. "Is something wrong?"

Kaldur was hesitant to tell them. "It's… a long story,"

But, because he did want to tell someone, and they were his best friends, they listened as he told them the sad tale.

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><p>Artemis threw her stuff into a corner of her room and flopped down on her bed. She looked with sleep-filled eyes at the clock on her bedside table. Three-fifteen. She hoped she hadn't woken her mom-<p>

"Artemis? Is that you?" No such luck.

"Yeah, Mom, it's me." She heard her mother's wheelchair coming down the hall. "Mom, you don't have to come-"

"What happened?" Her mother cut her off.

"What?"

"Artemis, what happened? Something bad, you've been crying. Do you need to talk?" Artemis's mother stroked her daughter's hair, trying to comfort her.

"Mom," Artemis sat up, looking at her mom, "Have you ever lost someone important to you?"

The older woman grabbed her daughter and pulled her into a tight hug.

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><p>There was a knock on the door. Robin sighed, walked over to the door, and opened it slowly. Alfred was on the other side.<p>

"Ahm, yes, Master Bruce wanted me to make sure you were okay, Master Richard." Batman had gone off on patrol by himself, leaving the Boy Wonder to rest.

"Actually, Alfred, I'm not, but thank you for asking." Before Alfred could reply, Robin closed the door. He walked over to his bed and sat down. Another knock came. Alfred spoke through the door.

"Would you like me to bring you anything? Maybe some hot chocolate?" Alfred knew that the Boy Wonder had a soft spot for Alfred's hot chocolate.

A sharp "NO" was his response.

Robin fell back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. So much had happened, so much at once. He didn't know how long he had cried. He let the tears come again. M'gann had become like a sister, like family. And now she was gone.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a third set of knocks on the door.

"I told you, Alfred, I don't want anything!"

There was no answer. After a few minutes, curiosity got the best of him, and he opened the door.

Sitting on the floor right outside the door was a cup of hot chocolate.

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><p>Wally awoke to bright sunlight. He rolled over and looked at his clock. Ten-thirty. What? But it was a school day. He heard his mother knock on his door.<p>

"Wally, are you up yet?"

He groaned. "Yes"

His mother came in.

"I let you sleep late. You don't need to go to school today. When you came home last night, you seemed really upset. Barry called this morning and explained everything." His mother paused nervously, then continued. "Wally, I'm so sorry."

Wally was silent. He wasn't sure what to say.

The two looked up as Wally's father walked in.

"Hey, uh, your uncle Barry's here to see you."

Wally nodded. His parents left. He sat there on his bed for a little while longer, then stood up and got dressed.

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><p>It was empty. Mount Justice felt so, totally, completely, <em>empty<em>. Even when they were in separate parts of the Cave, he still felt her, still knew she was there, somewhere. But now, nothing.

Superboy walked into the kitchen. How many times had he done this, to see her smiling face, heard her cheery voice?

"_Good morning, Superboy! What would you like for breakfast?"_

He would never hear her say that again.

He walked over to the sofa, remembering the times when they would sit there together, watching all sorts of shows. He remembered how she would get giddy whenever something romantic happened. She seemed to know who was with who, who dumped who, and who wanted who, in every show they saw. He smiled to himself as he remembered the time when she had squealed during a kissing scene, and then had proceeded to tell Superboy exactly what was going on, the ups and downs of their relationship up until then. Of course, after a little while, M'gann started apologizing hurriedly, thinking that she had been bothering Superboy. He had just smiled at her and turned back to the show. What was that show, again? It had the name of some sort of building… Oh, that's it. _Castle._ M'gann was obsessed with it.

It seemed that everything in the Cave reminded him of her. He clenched his fist, controlling himself. He had punched enough holes in walls last night.

He sighed, feeling suddenly exhausted. He sat down on the sofa and decided to watch TV, trying to distract himself. But it was as if the universe was determined to make him remember, because when he turned on the TV, he found himself watching a rerun of _Castle._

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><p>AN Wow! That's the longest I've written yet. I didn't write too much on Wally, I just couldn't really connect to him. Sorry. Also, the beginning was… rocky. It was not smooth at all. But I feel like the separate parts, when I followed each of the characters on their own, went pretty well.

I had to put that _Castle_ bit in there. I love that show. Did you see the season finale? I cried when they killed Montgomery.

It took me almost two hours to write this.

Thank you for the reviews, feel free to leave more.

Constructive criticism only.

If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.


	5. Chapter 5: Epilogue

A/N: This was another difficult chapter to write. This story is definitely not going where I intended it to go.

I DO NOT OWN YOUNG JUSTICE.

Here's Chapter 5

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><p>Batman watched the monitors, the glow illuminating what could be seen of his face. He saw the team, sitting in the commons room. They were all still sad and weary-looking, not at all like the team he knew, he used to know. Batman heard footsteps behind him, followed by a familiar, feminine voice:<p>

"You've got to tell them some time."

Batman sighed.

"I know. But, for most of them, this is the first time. And they are still kids. She was their friend, a very close friend, almost like family. They need to have some time to deal with it." Wonder Woman was still watching him, and, feeling a need to change the subject, he asked; "So, how is J'onn holding up?"

This question was answered with a second set of footsteps, and another familiar voice, this one masculine, saying; "About as well as any seemingly emotionless person who just lost a close member of their family could."

"He's spent all of his time in his room, and he's not answering us." Wonder Woman added.

"Ah, so you're saying he's a total wreck?" Batman clarified.

The other two superheroes nodded.

"Look, Bruce, I agree with Diana, you have to give them the speech sometime. I think the sooner the better." Superman said.

"Yes, you're probably right." Batman said. And with that, he stood up and left the room, the two superheroes staring after him.

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><p>Batman stood in front of the team. All was quiet, the team waiting for Batman to speak, Batman trying to decide on the right words to say. Finally, detesting the silence, Wally spoke up.<p>

"Anything new in the investigation?"

"No, nothing. That woman will not answer any of our inquiries, and she is not a villain in our database. And," Here came the hard part, "M'gann's body has not been found."

Silence again. And then; "So… maybe there's still a chance." Everyone turned to look at the clone. Superboy hadn't said anything since they had come to the Cave, and they all wondered why he chose now to speak up. He continued; "Maybe she's still alive, somewhere-"

"Superboy, SHUT UP!" This came from Artemis. The blonde archer was near tears and glaring daggers at the Boy of Steel. "She's _gone._ Okay? M'gann is dead. She is not coming back. Just accept it! It-" Artemis was cut off by her own tears. She broke down in sobs again. Wally carefully, tentatively, put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, letting it all out.

Superboy sat fuming, about ready to explode. Robin put a hand on his shoulder.

"Artemis is right, Supey. She's gone. And fooling yourself to believe that she's still out there isn't helping." The Boy Wonder spoke carefully, not wanting to anger Superboy more. Superboy calmed down, taking a few deep breaths. Yesterday had worn him out, too, and he just didn't have it in him to argue, not today.

Batman cleared his throat. "That's what I need to talk to you all about. You are all still young, and yesterday, I was sensitive to that. But you need to hear this. M'gann is gone, and, sadly, this probably won't be the only time something like this happens. Part of our job is taking risks, making sacrifices. Sometimes, we must make the ultimate sacrifices. And sometimes, it's just chance. You could spend days, weeks, years, going through it in your head, wondering what would have happened if the situation was just a little bit different, maybe if you had gotten there faster, or if someone had done this, instead of that, but that won't change anything. The person will still be gone. You need to move on." Batman paused, and then, sensing his last remark may have been taken the wrong way, added, "But moving on is not about forgetting that person. Moving on is about accepting that they are gone, and living with it. Eventually, you stop waking up in the morning feeling their absence like a blow to the chest. Eventually, you figure out that their absence is just something that you will have to work with. Learn from that, and maybe you can stop it from happening again. But, keep in mind, you cannot save everyone. Because, the fact remains, these things happen."

And so, feeling there was nothing more to be said, Batman left.

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><p>He threw the guard across the room. That may have been a little too much, but he had a job to do. Another guard came up from behind, jumping on his back. He grabbed that guard by the arms and threw him to the floor, knocking him unconscious. He looked around him. Yep, that was the last of them. A voice came through his comm.<p>

"_Superboy, report!_"

"Everything's fine over here. I just took out the last of the guards, and … er… _Robin _is hacking the security." It still felt weird to call the new guy _Robin_. The old Robin, who they all found out was Dick Grayson, changed his name to Nightwing a few months back. Batman had been quick with putting a new Robin on the team. This one hadn't been so secretive with his name. Jason Todd, he had pronounced proudly, when he first joined the team. But Superboy still had a hard time calling him Robin.

"_As soon as security is down, contact Wonder Girl. She and Artemis will be waiting for the signal."_

"Right."

Wonder Girl was one of the many new members of the Young Justice League. In the few years since Miss Martian's death, new members had come in from all over. Superboy thought there was probably near twenty of them now, with new recruits coming in almost regularly. However, there were still those occasional missions with just the five; him, Artemis, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin. Well, he was Nightwing now, wasn't he?

When Superboy thought about it, M'gann's death was the reason they had started recruiting new members.

"Come on, we're in!" New Robin called to the Boy of Steel. Superboy radioed Wonder Girl, and she and Artemis started their jobs.

As they crept through the hallways, Superboy thought more about the time since M'gann had died. For a while, it had been difficult. In the first few months, he still half-hoped to see her in the Cave, doing what she always did, smiling at him. But Batman was right. As soon as he started to accept that she was gone for good, it got easier. And then they started recruiting. They formed a team, stronger than ever before. A successful team. And he had made many new friends. He learned to open himself up to those around him. It was these bonds that they formed, that's what made them strong.

In losing a teammate, he found a team.

In losing a friend, he found a family.

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><p>AN: I really made M'gann come off as useless. Wow. But I am happy with the way this story turned out. I had intended it to be more like Under The Red Hood, with M'gann secretly being alive and some sort of vigilante, and then Superboy would find out her secret, she would confess, they kiss, Batman finds them, they go to Gotham, and explain everything.

That would have made for a really crappy story, now that I think about it. So I really like where this story ended up going.

Anyway, that's the end. Hope you liked it.

Thank you for the reviews.

Constructive criticism only.

If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.


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